1000 Tribal Families
Affected by the Man Project, Narmada Valley to be Drowned in Cold Blood

An Urgent Appeal for Rehabilitation

Dear friends, You
may have received some information about the grim situation building up
in the Man Project submergence zone. The Man Project is one of the 30
large dams being built in the Narmada valley and is situated in the Dhar
district of Madhya Pradesh. This Project will submerge over 1000 Bhil
and Bhilala tribal families in 17 villages affected by the Project and
their rich and fertile lands, deep black cotton soils irrigated with water
from wells and the river.

It may be noted that the Man Project received the legally binding environmental
clearance from the Central Environment Ministry in 1994. The condition
of the clearance was that the affected tribals must be resettled with
non- forest agricultural land. The state government policy for the oustees
of the Narmada Projects that was made in 1987 and firmed in 1992 also
required that the affected people must be resettled with land for land.
Despite this from 1991 to 1994, the state government completely violated
the conditions of the environmental clearance and the provisions of its
own policy and finished the rights of the people with paltry amounts of
cash compensation.

As a result, in 1984, the Appraisal Committee of the Central Environment
Ministry blacklisted the Man Project for complete violation of the conditions
of the environmental clearance. In 1997, when the oustees were given eviction
notices, they organized themselves under the aegis of the Narmada Bachao
Andolan and raised their voices. After a long struggle, in April ­May
1999, the Madhya Pradesh government agreed to constitute a committee for
the rehabilitation of the affected people. This committee which was constituted
under the chairmanship of the Narmada Minister of Madhya Pradesh comprised
of the affected people, elected representatives, government officials
and two members of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The government order of
2nd May, 1999 that constituted this committee clearly stated that no construction
work on the dam would be allowed to be carried out that would endanger
any affected person whose rehabilitation had not been completed. But despite
this clear order, from October, 2000 onwards the state government began
work on the spillway section of the dam, thus creating a situation of
imminent submergence of hundreds of tribal families who are yet to be
rehabilitated. The Man affected tribals then took out a protest rally
in Dhar on the 24th of January this year demanding immediate stoppage
of work and rehabilitation of the affected people. Subsequently after
representations to the NVDA, a government order of 30th January stopped
the work on the spillway section of the dam. The actual physical work
had to be stopped by demonstrating people at the dam site demanding that
the order be carried out.
But on the initiative of the Chief Minister Shri Digvijay Singh, as per
public statement given by local Congress MLA Shri Karan Singh Pawar, the
work was again restarted on the 9th of February, 2001. On the 9th, police
people from two police stations came to the villages of Khedi ­Balwadi
and Khanpura to threaten the people and tell them to leave their villages.
However the people of these two villages, especially the women confronted
the police and finally speechless, the police had to flee.

Subsequently, on the 11th of February, fifty trucks of police came to
the dam site presumably to stop any take over of the dam by the local
people, but actually to let the affected people know that their struggle
would be met by state repression.

The representatives of the 17 villages along with the NBA activists met
and petitioned Menaka Gandhi, Minister of Social Welfare, Secretary, Ministry
of Environment and Forests and the Chairman, Commission for Scheduled
Tribes and Scheduled Castes on the 12th and 13th of February. As a result,
the state government was forced to hold a meeting today, on the 20th of
February, 2001.The officials conceded during the meeting and that through
a written document that "If the dam construction proceeds as per
plan, the crest level 286.10m will be achieved by the monsoon of 2001.
At this height, at the maximum water flow of 10.00 cumecs along with backwater
effect, 993 families will be affected. Of this 283 families have already
vacated the submergence area and 710 families are yet to vacate the submergence
area and the houses of 522 families are likely to be submerged. It is
possible that another 222 families will vacate the submergence area before
the monsoons and it is being proposed that an emergency plan be prepared
for the rest of the families.

As per the proposed Emergency plan two temporary camps are proposed to
be set up. The location of this will be decided under the guidance of
the people's representatives and the District administration. Arrangements
will be made for the residence, health, security and food. It is estimated
that as per the length of the monsoon season, the camp will need to be
held for two months. The affected people who will come to these camps
will be given half the amount of daily wages that accrue to an unskilled
labourer (as per the District administration's rates) for meeting his
daily needs, in addition to food. (Government document, February, 2001)
Thus, although the lands and homes of around 5000 tribals will be drowned
permanently this monsoon itself, the government has no plan for them except
a temporary camp where they will be offered food and half the minimum
wages for unskilled labourers for two months!

At today's meeting, the 12 villagers and the four NBA activists who attended
argued for the work on the spillway section of the dam to be immediately
stopped and for the distribution of agricultural lands, the NVDA officials
argued that the dam must be completed by June, 2001.They said that the
ABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) credit for
this dam require that the dam be constructed by June, 2001. Callously
enough, they argued that the livelihoods of the affected people do not
need to be restored and that cash compensation was enough. Thus at the
end of today's meeting, the Committee did not agree to stop the work on
the dam nor give the affected people agricultural lands. In fact, the
Narmada Minister Shri Subhash Yadav stated that they would amend the provision
of the rehabilitation policy that provided for land for land, so that
they would not be required to give lands to the people! The NBA activists
pointed out that even if the state government were to amend the state
rehabilitation policy, they could hardly amend the conditions under which
the Ministry of Environment clearance was given to the Project. Thus,
the government has decided to carry on the construction and drown out
the people. The people of the Man project area have resolved to stop the
Project through non-violent but militant struggle. But the reality is
that the spillway section of the dam is being plugged in at the rate of
a foot a day. It is crucial that all work on the dam must immediately
stop.

It is clear that the tribals of this area need all your support to win
this struggle and to save the homes and lands of these 5000 tribals from
sure submergence this monsoon.